Settlement reached on Trump on the Ocean

The Trump Organization and the state’s Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation have reached an agreement to advance construction of Donald Trump’s proposed restaurant and catering facility at Jones Beach State Park, according to a joint statement.

With Friday’s deal, Trump on the Ocean will build and operate a 38,560-square-foot restaurant – nearly half the size first proposed – at the Central Mall boardwalk at Jones Beach. The $24 million project will have indoor and outdoor seating for more than 400 people, and catering areas that can accommodate up to 1,250 guests. No state funding is being provided.

As part of the agreement, the developer, the state parks department and the Department of State will terminate lawsuits filed after disputes relating to the original building design proposed under the lease originally executed in 2006.

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Jones Beach State Park has always had a restaurant on the boardwalk site. The first was built in the 1930s, at the time the park was created, and it burned down in the 1960s. It was replaced with a second restaurant built by state parks that operated for four decades until structural failures required it be demolished. For many years, the site has been empty, fenced off to the public.

“This is a settlement that is good for everybody, especially the state of New York, and will lead to the creation of the finest facility of its kind anywhere in the country,” Trump said in the statement. “Aside from the magnificence of the building itself, and of equal importance, will be the tremendous number of jobs created.”

Under the terms of the agreement, Trump on the Ocean will pay $200,000 a year in rent to the parks department, which will increase annually with the Consumer Price Index. Over the 40-year life of the deal, state parks will get $13 million and a portion of Trump on the Ocean’s annual gross receipts. All payments received by the parks department will be used to maintain and improve Jones Beach and other state parks.